Category: Motivation

So after a long year with lots of meditating and thinking I finally decided to continue with this blog, a year to the day. I’ve realigned and mentally cleansed myself to continue pursuing this. Big changes are coming and I’m excited!

After some long inner battles I decided to close the site down temporarily.. It may or may not be back, I don’t know. I just need to focus my attention on other things at the moment and realign myself to get my mind right and really tackle this weight problem I have.. In the meantime, enjoy the song.

We all remember the 5am swim sessions, the exhausting workouts, the constant consumption of bananas due to the potassium and all those who are no longer involved in competitive swimming miss it. Being a swimmer in high school I still feel a rush for anything swimming related. I’ve been really motivated lately and came across this video that took my motivation to the next level! A great video to jazz you up to take back control!

Had to bring back an old post for The Oak. Today is the birthday of the GREATEST BODY BUILDER EVER! Arnold Schwarzenegger! Happy Birthday!

Many movies are still coming from the greatest action star in the history of cinema!

Previous Post Below!

Today is July 30th and the birthday of the greatest bodybuilder the world has ever seen. Of course its none other than the great Arnold Schwarzenegger! Arnold turns a bright a chipper 66 yrs young and has all but wrapped up his movie career but in exactly 2 weeks you can see him once again on the big screen but this time hes not alone! For the first time ever the three most bad ass action stars from the 80′s and 90′s are together! Bruce Willis, Sylvestor Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger!

New Update. His Best Quotes!

Although his appearance has changed we will still remember him as the muscled Austrian with an attitude and charisma to boot that landed him victories in countless bodybuilding competitions. Here is a small Gallery I put together of some of his most memorable photos.

As mentioned in a previous post about plantar fasciitis I have had some nagging foot and ankle pains ever since Tough Mudder back in October 2012. Fortunately recently came across a product called The JWedge I thought I should give it a try since I havent had any luck with other forms of exercises to relieve my pain. I was skeptical at first of course since nothing seemed to work but I was very surprised that after day one I noticed a decrease in aggravation and pain.

Developed and made in America this wedge was designed by an avid runner and a physical therapist so you know its gotta be worth a try. With a few daily stretches on a flat surface you should see those nagging foot pains slowly going away. I do like this product and will continue to use it if the need to relieve my pains arises. Here are a few shots of the product and one of me using it. I had to use a door as I dont seem to have a flat wall to floor spot anywhere (damn floor molding LOL)

Ever walked around and noticed a twinge of pain in and around your heel area? Does it feel like you’re stepping on a needle pin side up? Does it hurt when you are standing barefoot on a hard surface? If so you may have this fairly common ‘injury’ known as Plantar Fasciitis. What this is is basically tightening of the fibrous band around the heel area called the plantar fascia. What the pain is the constricting and the stretching of the tendon when pressure is applied. Some notice it more during the morning as people who have this tend to sleep with their feet pointed. While the foot is pointed it relaxes and constricts to that shortened length then when you get out of bed and start taking steps the soreness is prevalent.

Plantar Fasciitis

This has been bugging me since Tough Mudder as the very next day I could barely walk. In fact, later on that day I felt as though I was a 95 year old man. I walked gingerly to and fro the car. Was painful! So what I have been trying to do lately is wear shoes with good arch support from the moment I wake up until the moment I lay down to sleep. At work I keep my foot flat on the ground and at times stretch it as if I were stretching my calf muscle. It helps at times but its not a ‘fixall’ if you will. In fact there really isnt much that can be done to ‘cure’ the problem only help ease some pain. I’m not particularly worried about it as its more discomfort than an injury.

So if you have experienced or are currently experiencing this pain what do you do to help mend the discomfort? Post in the comments and let me know!

As we all know music is a big part of fitness. Without it our workouts can be boring and feel never ending. Music helps with intensity, motivation and helps with blocking out distractions such as the often terrible ‘elevator’ music playing on the gyms speakers.

So my post today is a bit different in the sense that its about a workout mix I have the pleasure of checking out before others. As far as I know I have not reviewed any workout compilations or songs before and figured now would be a good time.

Right off the bat when I unzipped the file I noticed it was separate songs. Usually mixes and compilations are one single long track with nice transitions between songs but that is not the case. These are 20 separate songs that can be selected randomly or in order within your music player. Kind of defeats the purpose of a “workout compilation”

Some of the songs are a few years old and some are rather new, within the last year. Personally I prefer fast Dubstep while hitting the weights and only seldom and selectively do I like to throw in some rap/hip hop

The song choices are pretty good such as ‘Till I Collapse by Eminem

and Can’t Be Touched by Roy Jones Jr.

As well as Avicii – Levels

Mercy (RL Grime & Salva Remix): Kanye West

And Reptile – Skrillex

There are several other songs in the ‘mix’ that are enjoyable and will help with a good pump in the gym. Overall I’d give the mix a C as its really nothing new as in a mix but it’ll help you with getting some older songs onto your ipod or player should you have forgotten that ‘one song’ stuck in your head you’ve been meaning to add.

Thanks to DoA Mixtape KillaH for providing the Mix Tape as well as Gym Booty Keep up the good work and looking forward to the next one! Should you want a copy of the Mix Tape zip please comment and let me know!

So its been 14 days into the year 2013 and many of us/you/folks, etc.. have started to fail at your New Years Resolutions. Don’t sweat it because you haven’t sweat in atleast 14 days so why start now. But seriously its never too late to start so if you have started and failed start again.. however! Try something different since your previous resolution was obviously not working. Instead of saying “I want to lose 65 lbs” try “I will give up sodas for 3 months” or “I wont eat carbs past 6pm” etc.. If you start making easier resolutions its more likely that you will achieve success.

So I challenge you to make a list of 5 things you want to accomplish within the next 3 months, and be realistic. Seeing as this is a fitness related blog my goals are fitness related. Here is my list that I compiled, whats yours?

Lose 20 lbs

Do not drink any regular sodas

Take a multi vitamin every day for a month

Be able to run 2 miles without rest

Avoid fast food

So far so good and on the regular sodas LOL. It will take some time but its not unrealistic and can easily be done. Just put some effort into it. So do it and kick ass!

I was doing some recipe searching and came across something strange called ‘Meat Slop.’ I’m sure the name itself doesn’t provide a pretty picture, well you’re right it doesnt. The name implies that its just a big pile of mess and it is but what someone discovered is a recipe that makes an almost perfect macronutrient makeup of a 40/40/20 diet. Thats 40% calories from Protein, 40% calories from Fat and 20% calories from Carbs.

Ground meat of some form; lean beef works well. Anything between a pound or a kilogram really.

Cabbage of some sort; I prefer red (more anthocyanin content, whoo!) although green tastes less ‘cabbagy’ and might be good to start off with for those who don’t like cabbage. 2 medium sized (18in circumference) are good.

Tomato paste or an equivalent flavored paste; I personally use two cans (591mL) of the lowest calorie tomato paste I can get, usually the cheap stuff.

Thats really the base of the ‘slop’ but you can certainly add more ingredients especially if they do not add any major caloric content, such as pickles, peppers, mushrooms, etc.. Additional veggies are never frowned upon for healthy eating.

Check Silver Hydras post here for a complete recipe break down and cooking instructions. Try it out and let me know what you guys think. I’ll be making this very soon and will post a review! Thanks to Silver Hydra for the information.

For those who know me I’m perhaps the biggest Arnold Schwarzenegger fan around and have seen just about every one of his movies. I quote his movies daily with friends and family and pretty much idolize his ascension in the bodybuilding world as well as movies and politics. Success runs synonymous with the name Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Now that his career in politics appears to be over he can focus on what made him a house hold name, movies! Many rumors have been swirling about that Arnold is planning on reprising his role in several movies which he does not do too often sans a few such as Terminator 2, Terminator 3, The Expendables and Conan. However the rumors that I mentioned look to have him reprising his role again in Terminator 5, another Conan, a possible True Lies sequel and recently announced TWINS sequel called Triplets.

I can honestly say that I am more than thrilled to hear the news of these sequels, especially True Lies and Conan. The Triplets movie is not really something I’m too interested in since I was not thrilled with the first one anyways. Terminator does not surprise me since he sort of made a digital cameo in T4 as the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 or T-800 so its only natural to assume he will have some sort of appearance in Terminator 5, perhaps as a real person who the terminator is based off of, that would be interesting.

True Lies 2 has been talked about as soon as the first was released back in 1994. James Cameron, the director of True Lies, has expressed disinterest in sequels earlier in his career but according to recent news his focus lies with 2 sequels to Avatar. Afterwards he plans on devoting time to True Lies and possibly a Terminator sequel, which will be both highly anticipated and definite box office successes.

The movie that we are most likely to see first aside from Triplets (I’m on the fence about it) is a third Conan movie. The synopsis could be about an aging Conan who is now King and is at the end of his reign. He wants to go all out in one last battle, for glory! I think the idea is great and do like the idea of an older Conan reigning supreme and having an itch for one last battle. I guess you can say its similar to the last Rocky Balboa film that shows Rocky not 100% satisfied with his boxing career and needs one last final/farewell fight to close the book on his life. I see this as a success or maybe I’m being biased, either way I think Conan still has some life left.

I hope Arnold continues making movies well into his 70′s. He can still be a top box office action hero as long as it remains believable. I will remain his biggest fan even when he is long gone. There is no one like Arnold Schwarzenegger